familypediawikiaorg-20200214-history
Susanna Hutchinson (1633-1713)
}} Biography A bronze statue in front of the Massachusetts State House in Boston, dedicated in 1922, displays an assumed likeness of Cole as a youngster, and her mother, Anne Hutchinson. Early Years Born in Alford, Lincolnshire, England, Susanna Hutchinson was less than a year old when her family sailed from England to New England in 1634. She was less than five when her family settled on Aquidneck Island (later Rhode Island) in the Narragansett Bay following her mother's banishment from Massachusetts during the Antinomian Controversy. Shortly after her father's death, when she was about eight years old, she, her mother and six of her siblings left Rhode Island to live in New Netherland. They settled in an area that became the far northeastern section of The Bronx in New York City, near the Westchester County line. Susanna survived the indian raid of 1643 on her childhood home in New Netherlands. During the attack, Hutchinson's nine-year old daughter, Susanna, is said to have been out picking blueberries, and was found, according to legend, hidden in the crevice of Split Rock, nearby. She is believed to have had red hair, unusual to the attackers, and perhaps because of this curiosity her life was spared. She was taken captive and by one account was named "Autumn Leaf", and lived with the Native Americans for two to six years (accounts vary) until ransomed back to her family members, most of whom were living in Boston. In his journal, Massachusetts governor John Winthrop provided an account of Susanna under the date of July 1646: A daughter of Mrs. Hutchinson was carried away by the Indians near the Dutch, when her mother and others were killed by them; and upon the peace concluded between the Dutch and the same Indians, she was returned to the Dutch governor, who restored her to her friends here. She was about eight years old, when she was taken, and continued with them about four years, and she had forgot her own language, and all her friends, and was loath to have come from the Indians. Return to Boston Susanna Hutchinson was taken to Boston where her oldest brother and an older sister lived, was re-introduced into English society, and at the age of 18 married John Cole (1625-1707), the son of Boston innkeeper Samuel Cole. They lived in Boston for a few years, but by 1663 had moved to the Narragansett country of Rhode Island (later North Kingstown) to look after the lands of her oldest brother, Edward Hutchinson. Here the couple remained and raised a large family. Susanna Cole was still alive in 1707 when given administration of her husband's estate, but was deceased by December 1713 when her son William took receipts concerning his parents' estate. Marriage & Family At the age of 18 she married John Cole (1625-1707), the son of Samuel Cole who had built the first inn in Boston. Together they had 11 children, at 9 reached maturity. Susanna and John Cole had 11 children: Susanna, Samuel, Mary, John, Ann, a second John, Hannah, William, Francis, Elizabeth, and Elisha; at least 9 of them grew to maturity. Their oldest daughter, # Susanna Cole (1656-1726) - eldest daughter, married Thomas Eldred, a lieutenant in the Train Band Militia of Kingstown RI. # Samuel Cole - the fate of their oldest son, Samuel is not known. # Mary Cole - lived into her 60s, never marrying, and # John Cole, Jr. died as a youngster. # Ann Cole (1661-1704) - married Henry Bull (1659-1691), the son of Jireh Bull (1638-1684) (whose house was burned in the Great Swamp Fight of 1675, and grandson of Rhode Island colonial governor Henry Bull (1609-1693). # John Cole II - A second John grew to maturity, # Hannah Cole married Thomas Place, and # William Cole (1671-1734) - married Ann Pinder. # Francis Cole grew to maturity, # Elizabeth Cole married Robert Potter, # Elisha Cole - married Elizabeth Dexter and was for many years a Deputy or Assistant in the Rhode Island colony. Among her well known descendants are two aspirants to the United States Presidency, Stephen Arnold Douglas who lost to Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election, and Willard Mitt Romney, who lost to incumbent Barack Obama in 2012.18 Her grandson, John Cole, the son of Elisha Cole, was a chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. References There have been numerous books and articles written about Susanna Cole's famous mother, Anne Hutchinson, most of which mention Susanna. One book has been written about Cole, Trouble's Daughter by Katherine Kirkpatrick, which presents a fictionalized account about her life with the native Americans who captured her, but also presents some of the limited historical information that is available about her. * Life of Susanna Cole - Wikipedia * Francis Marbury List of Famous Descendants * Anne Marbury Royal Ancestry